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• Publié par: Phawyug
• Nombre de lectures: 19
• Langue: English

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A Practical Guide to Basic Electronics     Last updated: 11th May 2007 Author: Patrick J. Kelly       Introduction    This document is not an in-depth presentation of the subject of electronics. Instead, it is intended to give you sufficient (impirical) knowledge of the subject to be able to understand, design and build simple circuits such as the control circuits used with the ‘Free Energy’ devices described in the later parts of this document.    Disclaimer    These documents are provided for information purposes only. Should you decide to attempt construction of some device based on information presented here and injure yourself or any other person, I am not liable in any way. To clarify this; should you construct something in a heavy box and drop it on your toe, I am not liable for any injury you may sustain (you should learn to be more careful). If you attempt to construct some electronic circuit and burn yourself with the soldering iron, I am not liable. Also, I strongly recommend that unless you are expert in electronics, you do not construct any device using, or producing more than 12 Volts - high voltage circuits are extremely dangerous and should be avoided until you gain experience or can obtain the help and supervision of a person experienced in constructing high voltage circuits.    Voltage    Voltage is the key to understanding electronics. Without voltage, nothing happens in electronics. What is it? Nobody knows. We know how to generate it. We know what it does. We know how to measure it, but nobody knows what it actually is.    It is also called “Electro Motive Force” or“EMF” which is no help whatsoever in knowingwhatit is. is That, roughly equivalent to saying “the thing that pushes is the thing that pushes” - very true but absolutely no help whatsoever. OK, having admitted that we really don't knowwhatit is, we can start to say the things we do know about it:    A new battery has a voltage between its terminals. This voltage causes a current to flow through any complete electrical circuit placed across it. The current flowing through the circuit can cause various things to happen such as creating light, creating sound, creating heat, creating magnetism, creating movement, creating sparks, etc., etc.    By using the current caused by a voltage, a device called a ‘Voltmeter’ can indicate how big the voltage is. The bigger the voltage, the bigger the current and the bigger the display on the voltmeter. The voltmeter can have a numerical display where you read the voltage directly from the display, or it can be an ‘analogue’ voltmeter where the voltage is shown by the position of a needle on a scale. The size of the voltage is stated in ‘Volts’ which is a unit of measurement named after the man Voltaire who introduced voltage to the world (it was always there, we just did not know about it).    Voltages add up if they are connected the same way round, i.e. with the + terminals all facing the same way:   

     The physical size of the battery usually determines the length of time it can supply any given current - the bigger the battery, the longer it can provide any given current. A battery is constructed from a number of ‘cells’. The number of cells in the battery controls the voltage of the battery. For example, an ‘AA’ size battery (what used to be called a ‘penlight’ battery) has a single ‘cell’ and so produces 1.5 Volts when new. The very much larger and heavier ‘D’ battery also has just one cell and so it also produces 1.5 Volts when

new. The difference (apart from the higher cost of the ‘D’ cell) is that the larger cell can provide a much higher current if both batteries are discharged over the same period of time.    There are several different types of battery construction. A rechargeable NiCad battery has a single cell but its construction method means that it produces about 1.35 Volts when fully charged. In passing, NiCad batteries have a ‘memory’ characteristic which means that if they are recharged before they are fully discharged, then the next time they are discharged they run out of power at the voltage level it had when the last charging was started. Consequently, it is a good idea to fully discharge a NiCad battery before charging it again.    Car and motorcycle batteries are described as Lead/Acid batteries. This type of construction is not very convenient being large, heavy and potentially corrosive. The big advantages are the ability to provide very high currents and giving 2.0 Volts per cell. These batteries are normally produced as 6 Volt or 12 Volt units. The Amp-Hours for lead/acid car batteries is usually quoted for a 20 hour discharge period, so a fully charged, new, 20AHr battery can provide 1 Amp for 20 hours of continuous use. That battery loaded to give 5 Amps, willnotmight only last 2 hours, or perhaps a little better. Theprovide that current for 4 hours but manufacturers literature should give an indication of the performance, but if it is important, run your own test to see how the battery actually works in practice.    “Mains units” are known in the electronics world as “Power Supply Units” or “PSUs f”or short.  These convert  the mains voltage (220 Volts in UK, 110 Volts in USA) to some convenient low voltage; 12 Volts, 9 Volts, 6 Volts, or whatever is needed. A mains unit can provide several different voltages simultaneously.       Resistance    Being familiar with Voltage and Resistance is the key to understanding electronic circuitry. Resistance is a measure of how difficult it is for current to flow through something. Some materials such as glass, ceramics, wood and most plastics do not easily carry a current and so are considered to be ‘insulators’. That is why you will see power lines hung from their pylons by a series of ceramic discs. Current flows easily through metals, especially along the surface of the metal, so cables are made from metal wires surrounded by a layer of plastic insulation. The higher grade cables have wire cores made up of many small-diameter strands as this increases the surface area of the metal for any given cross-sectional area of the metal core (it also makes the cable more flexible, and generally, more expensive).    There is a very important, third group of materials, silicon and germanium in particular, which fall between conductors and insulators. Not surprisingly, these are called ‘semi-conductors’ and the amount of current they can carry depends on the electrical conditions in which they are placed. Much, much more about this later on.    While a metal wire carries current very well, it is not perfect at the job and so has some ‘resistance’ to current flowing through it. The thicker the wire, the lower the resistance. The shorter the wire, the lower the resistance. The first researchers used this characteristic to control the way circuits operated. Sometimes, as higher resistances were needed, the researcher used to need long lengths of wire which would get tangled up. To control the wire, a board with nails along each side was used and the wire wound backwards and forwards across the board like this:

  When drawing a circuit diagram, the researcher would sketch the wire on the board giving a zig-zag line which is still used today to represent a ‘resistor’ although different methods of construction are now used. An alternative symbol for a resistor is a plain rectangle as shown above.    If a resistor is connected across a battery, a circuit is formed and a current flows around the circuit. The current cannot be seen but that does not mean that it is not there. Current is measured in ‘Amps’ and the   instrument used to display it is an ‘ammeter’. If we place an ammeter in the circuit, it will show the current

flowing around the circuit. In passing, the ammeter itself, has a small resistance and so putting it in the circuit does reduce the current flow around the circuit very slightly. Also shown is a bulb. If the current flowing around the circuit is sufficiently high and the bulb chosen correctly, then the bulb will light up, showin that current is flowin , while the ammeter will indicate exactl how much current is flowing:

     Shown on the right, is the way that this circuit would be shown by an electronics expert (the ‘Resistor’, ‘Ammeter’ and ‘Lamp’ labels would almost certainly not be shown). There are several different styles of drawing circuit diagrams, but they are the same in the basic essentials. One important common feature is that unless there is some very unusual and powerful reason not to do so, every standard style circuit diagram will have the positive voltage line horizontally at the top of the diagram and the negative as a horizontal line at the bottom. These are often referred to as the positive and negative ‘rails’. Where possible, the circuit is drawn so that its operation takes place from left to right, i.e. the first action taken by the circuit is on the left and the last action is placed on the right.    Resistors are manufactured in several sizes and varieties. They come in ‘fixed’ and ‘variable’ versions. The most commonly used are the ‘fixed’ carbon ‘E12’ range. This is a range of values which has 12 resistor values which repeat: 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 27, 33, 39, 47, 56, 68, 82 and then: 100, 120, 150, 180, 220, 270, 330, 390, 470, 560, 680, 820 and then: 1000, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2200, 2700, 3300, 3900, 4700, 5600, 6800, 8200, etc. etc. Nowadays, circuits often carry very little power and so the resistors can, and are, made in very small physical sizes. The higher the resistance value of a resistor, the less current will flow through it when a voltage is placed across it. As it can be difficult to see printing on small resistors clustered together on a circuit board and surrounded by other larger components, the resistor values are not written on the resistors, instead, the resistors are colour-coded. The unit of measurement for resistors is the ‘ohm’ which has a very small size. Most resistors which you encounter will be in the range 100 ohms to 1,000,000 ohms. The higher the resistance of any resistor, the smaller the current which will flow thorugh it    The colour code used on resistors is:     0 Black 1 Brown 2 Red 3 Orange 4 Yellow 5 Green 6 Blue 7 Purple (Violet if your colour vision is very good) 8 Grey 9 White    Each resistor has typically, three colour bands to indicate its value. The first two bands are the numbers and the third band is the number of noughts:   

   Green: 5 Yellow: 4

 

Blue: 6 Purple: 7 Red: 2 noughts Green: 5 noughts Value: 5,600 ohms or 5.6K or 5K6 Value: 4,700,000 ohms or 4.7M or 4M7    The colour bands are read from left to right and the first band is close to one end of the body of the resistor. There is often a fourth band which indicates the manufacturing tolerance: you can ignore that band.    Examples:    Red, Red, Red: 2 2 00 ohms or 2K2 Yellow, Purple, Orange: 4 7 000 ohms or 47K Black, Brown, Brown: 1 0 0 ohms or 100R Orange, Orange, Orange: 3 3 000 ohms or 33K Brown, Green, Red: 1 5 00 ohms or 1K5 Brown, Green, Black: 1 5 no noughts, or 15 ohms Blue, Grey, Orange: 6 8 000 ohms or 68K Brown, Green, Green: 1 5 00000 ohms or 1,500,000 ohms or 1M5 Yellow, Purple, Brown: 4 7 0 ohms    As there are only 12 standard resistor values per decade, there are only 12 sets of the first two colour bands: 10: Brown/Black, 12: Brown/Red, 15: Brown/Green, 18: Brown/Grey 22: Red/Red, 27: Red/Purple 33: Orange/Orange, 39: Orange/White 47: Yellow/Purple 56: Green/Blue 68: Blue/Grey 82: Grey/Red   

  

 

 

      We now come to the interesting part: what happens when there are several resistors in a circuit. The important thing is to keep track of the voltages generated within the circuit. These define the currents flowing, the power used and the way in which the circuit will respond to external events. Take this circuit:  

     What is the voltage at point ‘A’? If you feel like saying “Who cares?” then the answer is “you” if you want to understand how circuits work, because the voltage at point ‘A’ is vital. For the moment, ignore the effect of the voltmeter used to measure the voltage.    If R1 has the same resistance as R2, then the voltage at ‘A’ is half the battery voltage, i.e. 4.5 Volts. Half the battery voltage is dropped across R1 and half across R2. It does not matter what tyhe actual resistance of R1 or R2 is, as long as they have exactly the same resistance. The higher the resistance, the less current flows, the longer the battery lasts and the more difficult it is to measure the voltage accurately.    There is no need to do any calculations to determine the voltage at point “A” as it isthe ratio of the resistor values which determines the voltage. If you really want to, you can calculate the voltage although it is not necessary. The method for doing this will be shown you shortly. For example, if R1 and R2 each have a value of 50 ohms, then the current flowing through them will be 9 volts / 100 ohms = 0.09 Amps (or 90 milliamps). The voltage drop across R1 will be 50 ohms = Volts / 0.09 amps or Volts = 4.5 volts. Exactly the same calculation shows that the voltage across R2 is exactly 4.5 volts as well. However, the point to be stressed here is that it is theratioR2 which controls the voltage at point “A”.of R1 to

  If R1 has half as much resistance as R2, then half as much voltage is dropped across it as is dropped across R2, i.e. 3 Volts is dropped across R1, giving point ‘A’ a voltage of 6 Volts and that is what the voltmeter will show. Again, it does not matter what the actual value of R1 is in ohms, so long as R2 has exactly twice the resistance (shown by a higher number on the resistor).      If R1 has twice as much resistance as R2, then twice as much voltage is dropped across it as is dropped across R2, i.e. 6 Volts is dropped across R1, giving point ‘A’ a voltage of 3 Volts. Here are some examples with different resistors:        

 

        The same division of the supply voltage can be produced by positioning the slider of a variable resistor at different points by rotating the shaft of the device:    

         This principle applies immediately to the following circuit:   

 

     Here we encounter two new components. The first is ‘VR1’ which is a variable resistor. This device is a resistor which has a slider which can be moved from one end of the resistor to the other. In the circuit above, the variable resistor is connected across the 9 Volt battery so the top of the resistor is at 9 Volts and the bottom is at 0 Volts. The voltage on the slider can be adjusted from 0 Volts to 9 Volts by moving it along the resistor.    The second new device is ‘TR1’ a transistor. This semiconductor has three connections: aCollector, aBase and anE the base is disconnected, the transistor has a very high resistance between the collectormitter. If and the emitter, much higher than the resistance of resistor ‘R1’. The voltage dividing mechanism just discussed means that the voltage at the collector will therefore, be very near to 9 Volts - caused by theratio   of the transistor’sCollector/Emitter resistance compared to the resistor “R2”.    If a small current is fed from the base to the emitter, the resistance between the collector and the emitter drops almost instantly to a very low value, much, much lower than the resistance of resistor ‘R2’. This means that the voltage at the collector will be very close to 0 Volts. The transistor is described as having ‘switched on’. This state can be set by moving the slider of the variable resistor very slowly upwards to reach the switch-on point. This will be at a base/emitter voltage of 0.7 Volts, or so. The transistor can therefore be switched on and off just by rotating the shaft of the variable resistor.    If a bulb is used instead of R2, then it will light when the transistor switches on. If a relay or opto-isolator is used, then a second circuit can be operated. If a buzzer is substituted for R2, then an audible warning will be sounded when the transistor switches on. If a opto-resistor is substituted for VR1, then the transistor will switch on when the light level increases or decreases, depending on how the sensor is connected. If a thermistor is used instead of VR1, then the transistor can be switched on by a rise or fall in temperature. Ditto, for sound, windspeed, water speed, vibration level, etc. etc. - more of this later.    We need to examine the resistor circuit in more detail:   

  

 

We need to be able to calculate what current is flowing around the circuit. This can be done using “Ohms Law” which states that “Resistance equals Voltage divided by Current” or, if you prefer: “Ohms = Volts / Amps” which indicates the units of measurement.    In the circuit above, if the voltage is 9 Volts and the resistor is 100 ohms, then by using Ohm’s Law we can calculate the current flowing around the circuit as 100 Ohms = 9 Volts /Amps, orAmps = 9 / 100 which equals 0.09 Amps. To avoid decimal places, the unit of 1 milliamp is used. There are 1000 milliamps in 1 Amp. The current just calculated would commonly be expressed as 90 milliamps which is written as 90 mA.    In the circuit above, if the voltage is 9 Volts and the resistor is 330 ohms, then by using Ohm’s Law we can calculate the current flowing around the circuit as 330 = 9 / Amps. Multiplying both sides of the equation by “Amps” gives: Amps x 330 ohms = 9 volts. Dividing both sides of the equation by 330 gives: Amps = 9 volts / 330 ohms which works out as 0.027 Amps, written as 27 mA.    Using Ohm’s Law we can calculate what resistor to use to give any required current flow. If the voltage is 12 Volts and the required current is 250 mA then as Ohms = Volts / Amps, the resistor needed is given by: Ohms = 12 / 0.25 Amps which equals 48 ohms. The closest standard resistor is 47 ohms (Yellow / Purple / Black).    The final thing to do is to check the wattage of the resistor to make sure that the resistor will not burn out when connected in the proposed circuit. The power calculation is given by: Watts = Volts x Amps the last example, this gives Watts = 12 x 0.25, which is 3 Watts. This is much. In larger than most resistors used in circuitry nowadays.    Taking the earlier example, Watts = Volts x Amps, so Watts = 9 x 0.027 which gives 0.234 Watts. Again, to avoid decimals, a unit of 1 milliwatt is used, where 1000 milliwatts = 1 Watt. So instead of writing 0.234 Watts, it is common to write it as 234 mW.    This method of working out voltages, resistances and wattages applies to any circuit, no matter how awkward they may appear. For example, take the following circuit containing five resistors:   

     As the current flowing through resistor ‘R1’ has then to pass through resistor ‘R2’, they are said to be ‘in   series’ and their resistances are added together when calculating current flows. In the example above, both R1 and R2 are 1K resistors, so together they have a resistance to current flow of 2K (that is, 2,000 ohms).    If two, or more, resistors are connected across each other as shown on the right hand side of the diagram above, they are said to be ‘in parallel’ and their resistances combine differently. If you want to work out the equation above, for yourself, then choose a voltage across Rt, use Ohm’s Law to work out the current through Ra and the current through Rb. Add the currents together (as they are both being drawn from the voltage source) and use Ohm’s Law again to work out the value of Rt to confirm that the 1/Rt = 1/Ra + 1/Rb + .... equation is correct. A spreadsheet is included which can do this calculation for you.    In the example above, R4 is 1K5 (1,500 ohms) and R5 is 2K2 (2,200 ohms) so their combined resistance is given by 1/Rt = 1/1500 + 1/2200 or Rt = 892 ohms (using a simple calculator). Apply a common-sense check to this result: If they had been two 1500 ohm resistors then the combined value would have been 750 ohms. If they had been two 2200 ohm resistors then the combined value would have been 1100 ohms. Our answer must therefore lie between 750 and 1100 ohms. If you came up with an answer of, say, 1620 ohms, then you know straight off that it is wrong and the arithmetic needs to be done again.    So, how about the voltages at points ‘A’ and ‘B’ in the circuit? As R1 and R2 are equal in value, they will

have equal voltage drops across them for any given current. So the voltage at point ‘A’ will be half the battery voltage, i.e. 6 Volts.    Now, point ‘B’. Resistors R4 and R5 act the same as a single resistor of 892 ohms, so we can just imagine two resistors in series: R3 at 470 ohms and R4+R5 at 892 ohms. Common-sense rough check: as R3 is only about half the resistance of R4+R5, it will have about half as much voltage drop across it as the voltage drop across R4+R5, i.e. about 4 Volts across R3 and about 8 Volts across R4+R5, so the voltage at point B ‘ ’ should work out at about 8 Volts.    ’ We can useOhm s Lawcalculate the current flowing through point ‘B’:to   Ohms = Volts / Amps, (orAmps = Volts / Ohms orVolts = Ohms x Amps)   (470 + 892) = 12 / Amps, so   Amps = 12 / (470 + 892)   Amps = 12 / 1362 or   Amps = 0.00881 Amps (8.81 milliamps).   Now that we know the current passing through (R4+R5) we can calculate the exact voltage across them:   Resistance = Volts / Amps so   892 = Volts / 0.00881 or   Volts = 892 x 0.00881   Volts = 7.859 Volts.   As our common-sense estimate was 8 Volts, we can accept 7.86 Volts as being the accurate voltage at point ‘B’ .    The Potentiometer    Just before we leave the subject of resistors and move on to more interesting subjects, we come across the term ‘potentiometer’. This term is often shortened to ‘pot’ and many people use it to describe a variable resistor. I only mention this so that you can understand what they are talking about. A variable resistor is not a potentiometer and really should not be called one. You can skip the rest of this part as it is not at all important, but here is what a potentiometer is:    A fancy name for voltage is ‘potential’, so a circuit powered by a 12 Volt battery can be described as having a ‘potential’ of zero volts at the negative side of the battery and a ‘potential’ of plus twelve volts at the positive side of the battery. Ordinary folks like me would just say ‘voltage’ instead of ‘potential’.    When a voltmeter is used to measure the voltage at any point in a circuit, it alters the circuit by drawing a small amount of current from the circuit. The voltmeter usually has a high internal resistance and so the current is very small,but though it is a small current, it evendoes the circuit. Consequently, the alter measurement made is not quite correct. Scientists, in years gone by, overcame the problem with a very neat solution - they measured the voltage without takinganycurrent from the circuit - neat huh? also They did it with a very simple arrangement:   

     They used a sensitive meter to measure the current. This meter is built so that the needle is in a central position if no current is flowing. With a positive current flowing, the needle deflects to the right. With a negative current flowing, the needle moves to the left. They then connected a variable resistor ‘VR1’ across the same battery which was powering the circuit. The top end of VR1 is at +12 Volts (they called that ‘a potential of +12 Volts’) and the bottom end of VR1 is at zero volts or ‘a potential of zero volts’.    By moving the slider of VR1, any voltage or ‘potential’ from zero volts to +12 Volts could be selected. To measure the voltage at point ‘A’ without drawing any current from the circuit, they would connect the meter as shown and adjust the variable resistor until the meter reading was exactly zero.    Since the meter reading is zero, the current flowing through it is also zero and the current taken from the circuit is zero. As no current is being taken from the circuit, the measurement is not affecting the circuit in any way - very clever. The voltage on the slider of VR1 exactly matches the voltage at point ‘A’, so with a calibrated scale on the variable resistor, the voltage can be read off.    The slick piece of equipment made up from the battery, the variable resistor and the meter was used to measure the ‘potential’ (voltage) at any point and so was called a ‘potentiometer’. So, please humour me by calling a variable resistor a ‘variable resistor’ and not a ‘potentiometer’. As I said before, this is not at all important, and if you want to, you can call a variable resistor a ‘heffalump’ so long as you know how it works.        Tutorial 2       Semiconductors   This section deals with discrete semiconductors. A later section deals with ‘Integrated Circuits’ which are large-scale semiconductor devices.   ORP12 Light-dependent resistor. This device has a high resistance in the dark and a low resistance in bright light. It can be placed in a circuit to create a switch which operates with an increase in light level or a decrease in light level:  

    In this version, the voltage at point ‘A’ controls the circuit. In darkness, the ORP12 has a resistance ten times greater than that of R1 which is 12,000 ohms. Consequently, the voltage at point ‘A’ will be high. As the light level increases, the resistance of the ORP12 falls, dragging the voltage at point ‘A’ downwards. As

the variable resistor ‘VR1’ is connected from point ‘A’ to the ground rail (the -ve of the battery), its slider can be moved to select any voltage between 0 Volts and the voltage of ‘A’. A slider point can be chosen to make the transistor switch off in daylight and on at night. To make the circuit trigger when the light level increases, just swap the positions of R1 and the ORP12.   The transistor shown is a BC109 although most transistors will work in this circuit. The BC109 is a cheap, silicon, NPN transistor. It can handle 100mA and 30V and can switch on and off more than a million times per second. It has three connections: the Collector, marked ‘c’ in the diagram, the Base, marked ‘b’ in the diagram and the Emitter, marked ‘e’ in the diagram.   As mentioned before, it has a very high resistance between the collector and the emitter when no current flows into the base. If a small current is fed into the base, the collector/emitter resistance drops to a very low value. The collector current divided by the base current is called the ‘gain’ of the transistor and is often called ‘hfe’. A transistor such as a BC109 or a BC108 has a gain of about 200, though this varies from actual transistor to actual transistor. A gain of 200 means that a current of 200mA passing through the collector requires a current of 1mA through the base to sustain it. Specific information on the characteristics and connections of semiconductors of all kinds can be obtained free from the excellent website www.alldatasheet.co.kr which provides .pdf information files.   The BC109 transistor shown above is an NPN type. This is indicated by the arrow of the symbol pointing outwards. You can also tell by the collector pointing to the positive rail. There are similar silicon transistors constructed as PNP devices. These have the arrow in the transistor symbol pointing inwards and their collectors get connected, directly or indirectly, to the negative rail. This family of transistors are the earliest transistor designs and are called ‘bi-polar’ transistors.   These silicon transistors are so efficiently constructed that they can be connected directly together to give greatly increased gain. This arrangement is called a ‘Darlington pair’. If each transistor has a gain of 200, then the pair give a gain of 200 x 200 = 40,000. This has the effect that a very, very small current can be used to power a load. The following diagram shows a Darlington pair used in a water-level detector. This type of alarm could be very useful if you are asleep on a boat which starts taking on water.  

    Here, (when the circuit is switched on), transistor TR1 has so little leakage current that TR2 is starved of base current and is hard off, giving it a high resistance across its collector/emitter junction. This starves the buzzer of voltage and keeps it powered off. The sensor is just two probes fixed in place above the acceptable water level. If the water level rises, the probes get connected via the water. Pure water has a high electrical resistance but this circuit will still work with pure water.   The odds are that in a practical situation, the water will not be particularly clean. The resistor R1 is included to limit the base current of TR1 should the sensor probes be short-circuited. Silicon bi-polar transistors have a base/emitter voltage of about 0.7V when fully switched on. The Darlington pair will have about 1.4V between the base of TR1 and the emitter of TR2, so if the sensor probes are short-circuited together, resistor R1 will have 6 - 1.4 = 4.6V across it. Ohms Law gives us the current through it as R = V / A or 47,000 = 4.6 / A or A = 4.6 / 47,000 amps. This works out at 0.098mA which with a transistor gain of 40,000 would allow up to 3.9A through the buzzer. As the buzzer takes only 30mA or so, it limits the current passing through it, and TR2 can be considered to be switched hard on with the whole battery voltage across it.   NPN transistors are more common than PNP types but there is almost no practical difference between them. Here is the previous circuit using PNP transistors: